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Onsite School Programs

These interactive programs are broken up into several stops within our exhibits. Students gain essential social studies skills by engaging with our collections through exploration, games, and activities. Each program correlates to the Maryland State Social Studies curriculum and Common Core.

What was life like in Maryland long ago?Students will be introduced to some of the differences between our past and present by investigating how jobs have changed throughout Maryland’s history. Students will look at the lives of farmers, teachers, and more! Maximum Students: 60.

Cost: $3 per student

Length: 1.5 Hours

Colonial Maryland (Grades 3-5)

Explore the evolution of the colonial economy from Maryland's founding to independence! Students will understand colonists' economic motives for migration, the far-reaching impacts of plantation agriculture and the triangle trade, and how American commercial success contributed to the quest for independence. Maximum Students: 60.

Cost: $5 per student / $3 per Title I Student

Length: 2.5 Hours

Civil Rights in Maryland (Grades 4-12)

Trace the strides that African Americans have made in achieving equal rights and treatment, from the colonial period to the present. Students trace key themes including slavery, abolition, voting rights, the civil rights movement, and civic engagement. Maximum Students: 60.

Cost: $3 per student

Length: 1.5 Hours

ADD-ON PROGRAMS

Quill and Ink Letter Writing

How did people contact each other before texts messages and emails? Students will be able to explore and experience the skill of writing a letter with a quill and ink. While trying their hand at writing letters with ink, students will also learn how letters were sent and folded without envelopes. At the end of the program, the students will have a letter written in ink for them to take home!

This program includes use of the lunch room. Half the students will eat lunch for 30 minutes while the other half takes part in the program. The groups will then switch. Maximum Students: 60.

Cost: $2 per student

Added time to visit: 1 Hour

Candle Dipping

In today's world, we do not have to worry about lighting our house at night. All we have to do is flick a switch and the lights come on. Before electricity was common place though, people had to use candles to light their home. Each candle had to be hand made and many were hand-dipped. Throughout this program, students will hand-dip their own candles using beeswax. Students will be able to take the candles home and try out the old method of seeing in the dark.

This program includes use of the lunch room. Half the students will eat lunch for 30 minutes while the other half takes part in the program. The groups will then switch. Maximum Students: 30

Cost: $2

Added time to visit: 1 Hour

Student Primary Source Research Program (Grades 5th and above)

In this program, students will be able to interact and handle primary sources pulled from the collection of the Maryland Historical Society. Students will be guided through the primary sources and will be tasked with analyzing and interpreting the documents. This program will also offer and introduction to research with primary sources, research strategies, and proper handling of historic documents. Your students will come away with a skills that will help them in the future.

The programs offered are:

Slavery & the Underground Railroad

Civil War Perspectives

Growth at the Turn of the Century

The Civil Rights Movement in Maryland

History Day Preparation

This program includes use of the lunch room. Half the students will eat lunch for 30 minutes while the other half takes part in the program. The groups will then switch. Maximum Students: 60

Cost: $2 per student

Added Time to Visit: 1 Hour

PLEASE NOTE:

Field Trips at the Museum are offered Wednesdays and Fridays.

The Colonial Maryland Program includes a 30 minute break that can be used for lunch.

Our lunch room is available for use with the Life Then and Now and Civil Rights in Maryland Programs but you must notify the School Programs Coordinator prior to your visit.

Due to the generous support of the Society of Cincinnati, the Maryland Historical Society is able to offer Maryland schools the Colonial Maryland Onsite School Program for FREE for up to 45 students. This grant also provides $300 towards transportation cost. Grant funds will be distributed on a first come first served basis.